2:Rage
by FrivolousThoughts
Summary: Spider-Man struggles to control his inner darkness, with the hero blinded by negative emotions how long will it take before he crosses that certain line? Set in a world where Marvel and DC have always co-existed.


**Author's Note: **I actually got the idea for this short story from my other one-shot, in a sense this is a kind of prequel to it. In my other one-shot that takes place in the same universe as this I referenced the whole Black Suit fiasco when Nightwing thought back to it. So this is just like the closing moments of Peter's time in the suit, it was just an off handed idea I wrote yesterday but I don't think I can write anything too dark. Oh well I tried.

So yeah this is set in the same world as What's Up, Champ? but takes place before it if you get me. I just wanted to see if I could expand the small universe a little bit and am actually trying to write another one-shot taking place after the first one. Again I haven't seen a lot of the Young Justice cartoon so I may get some stuff wrong.

Set in a world where Marvel and DC have always co-existed because that would be awesome.

Again I hope you get a little kick out of reading this :)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Spider-Man or Young Justice in any way, the character Spider-Man and all related content is owned by Marvel and Disney. Young Justice and all related content is owned by DC.

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**Rage.**

Anger.

Fury.

All other senses of the word.

He could feel it all building up inside of him for no apparent reason, no… he knew the reason. The suit, it was conflicting with his personality. It wouldn't let him tell a joke, it wouldn't let him be the graceful acrobat he was born to be. Every single movement was aggressive, full of raw power waiting to be let out. He could feel a part of himself resist, the part that understood what Uncle Ben had told him the night he had been shot. But just as quickly his resistance was shot down by the darkness that consumed his mind, he wanted to kill everything. He wanted to kill everyone, maybe he'd pay the Bugle a late night visit and start with Jonah. It was common knowledge to the staff that he stayed late after everyone had departed for home so it would be the simplest thing in the world to carry out.

His silent mulling was sliced in half as a gunshot echoed through the dark and dingy neighbourhood he found himself in, the ever pouring rain bounced off of his musculature shoulders as he sat crouched on a high rooftop with his pitch black fingers embedded into the concrete. He tilted his head to the side and without a word sprang into the rainy New York night headed in the direction the sound had originated from. That's how he did most of his superhero activities in the black suit, without a word.

There was no precision to his movements, they were full of pent up anger as well as sadness and all shades of negative emotions. He hesitated when a natural instinct told him to shoot a web-line, instead he didn't and found himself leaping from rooftop to rooftop reaching distances far beyond what he could do without the suit. Or so he believed, the suit wanted to make him feel as though he couldn't live without it and it seemed to be succeeding in that department.

His form fell once more on a nearby rooftop with a somewhat loud thud, it didn't matter though as thunder and lightning had begun thrashing about the shadowed sky of Manhattan masking his movements easily. He turned his head lazily to the side showing no matter of urgency to get to the scene of the gunshot, no brisk movement would normally mean he was tired but that wasn't the case at the moment. His dirty white lenses were no more than aggravated slits perched on a sea of black, the large sharp white spider spanning across his entire body crumpled refitting itself around his angered frame. He was nothing more than an urban shadow blending into the city's dark depressing hopeless backdrop seamlessly, the only thing that could be distinctly recognized was the eyes and the spider.

The sight of nothing more than a common street hood holding a gun approaching a young woman in a dark damp alleyway was mirrored in his lenses, the punk must have fired a warning shot to let her know he wasn't joking. The shadow's fists seemed to tighten as he noticed the woman was crying heavily as the hood tried to shush her in a manner that a father shushes his darling daughter, with slow steady caring shushes. The shadow's jaw tightened and his eye's narrowed even tighter if it were possible but he didn't move as fast as lightning like he did in the red and blue suit, instead he leaned over the rooftop's ledge until he was over it entirely now crawling on the wall in a very familiar and comfortable manner that could only be associated with him.

His shadowy black arms and legs moved slowly, so slowly that the woman hadn't even noticed him drawing nearer and nearer as the thug pushed her chin up to the point where she was directly facing the oncoming shadow with an anger management problem. Of course she may not have noticed him because of the serrated blade being pushed up to her jugular as the hood pocketed the revolver favouring the knife for a more up close and personal experience, the thug began to slowly trace the space of the woman's skin between her neck and upper chest as if he was letting the knife get a feel for the texture of her skin.

The shadow could see the woman's breathing grow rapid as he made slow progress towards them, it was probably because she knew it was going to happen one way or the other. Whether she fought or lay there and took it the incident would scar her for life, there was no recovering from this. The woman suddenly thought of herself as the biggest idiot in the world for taking the late shift at the diner she was employed at, she only lived a few blocks away and didn't think walking alone would be a problem. How wrong she had been, how wrong indeed.

As the shadow moved so did the symbol on his back, the large white spider moved as if it was the one crawling and not the black canvas it was painted on. He drew nearer still and could make out a few of the finer details of the woman, even he had to agree she was quite pretty. The woman looked no older than twenty and had short brunette hair swept to the right side of her face, her eyes shared the same colour as her hair and the shadow suddenly found himself being reminded of Betty Brant. Granted he could discern the differences immediately between the two but the resemblance was still striking to say the least, the street punk however looked as though he'd just left school.

The little brat wore a grimy green wool hat hidden underneath an orange hoody, it was hard to tell what he looked like but the shadow guessed he held maybe a little bit of Spanish heritage. Whatever, it wasn't like he cared.

The slow moving shadow was only a few feet away and that's when he noticed the woman had seen him, he wasn't surprised as he could almost feel her warm breath on his cold face. At first he thought, no predicted she was going to scream right in his face but was surprised when she didn't.

He knew she was afraid, he saw the absolute terror in her eyes when she first made him out. It was safe to say that the shadow was surprised when he saw her heavily sigh in relief and mutter a prayer, he assumed she wasn't an idiot. It took a lot of time for people to get used to the new look, himself included but nonetheless he had been all over the media sporting the change in fashion and she must have recognized it. He was still genuinely shocked she didn't scream though, most people screamed when he wore the whimsical red and blue duds.

The kid with the knife however was too busy staring at her chest as his left hand shook nearing the first buttons on her shirt while the other hand held the knife, he seemed to be sweating in anticipation as this the shadow guessed it was his first time.

_Aww isn't that just precious, he's nervous. I remember my first ti—_

A witty sarcastic voice suddenly erupted inside his dark cobweb filled mind only to be cut off and forced to the back only a second later, the shadow shook his head before realizing he'd spent too much time in the shadows.

With no effort at all the shadow plucked the wannabe criminal off of the ground by his horrible orange hoody and watched with silent grim satisfaction as his little legs scrambled in mid-air, one of the kid's shoes fell off and the woman stood stock still waiting for the shadow to deal with it quickly. It wasn't until the shadow turned the boy around in his hand and watched as the punk's face went completely pale did the boy stop struggling entirely.

All signs of life and colour left his youthful complexion and was replaced with frightening realization, the thought dawned on him that he'd been caught by somebody who wasn't quite in the mood to catch him. The shadowy figure said nothing, he merely stared hard into the hood's eyes letting him know he was pissed off.

The kid felt the two pale white slits burn into his skull, he didn't really think it was happening. Well he hoped it wasn't happening, he hoped it was some nightmare he'd wake up from but it seemed that comfort was thrown from the window as the shadow reared his free fist back ready to send him sprawling through a wall. The kid couldn't keep it in any longer and felt a sharp pang of terror hit his entire body as his bladder lost control, the moment the woman saw the liquid drip from the kid's dirty torn jeans she took a step back in utter disgust. She tried to keep herself covered up using her jacket and waited until the black and white shadow finished scaring the pants off of him.

The hood muttered a stream of nervous apologies and half-assed attempts at statements of regret but the shadow didn't care, he wasn't the forgiving type. Maybe in the past but not in the new suit, forgiveness showed signs of weakness and his enemies could use that to exploit him. God knows it happened more times than he could actually keep track of in the past.

Finally the wannabe rapist lost consciousness entirely and the shadow seemed frustrated, the kid fainted out of pure unbridled fear before he could even lay a hand on him. With more force than was deemed necessary the shadow forced the thug into the wall smashing several bricks in the meantime, it wasn't enough to do any severe damage but it may have bruised the heck out of his back. The rage filled figure then proceeded to fire a thin sheet of webbing from his wrist covering the thug entirely enabling him to hang their stuck to the wall, the shadow hoped nobody would find the little low-life until early morning. The kid would probably be terrified of the dark without his nightlight, the contrasting shadow turned to look at the woman and wondered why she was still even present.

Normally they just ran away out of sheer terror and instinct but the woman seemed grateful on account of his actions, it was safe to say it was unexpected when she rushed him with a tight hug. His entire body tensed and his muscles contracted under the woman's grip, it wasn't like she had superhuman strength or anything but the force of the hug just felt sincere and caring. Like the kind of hug his Aunt would give him whenever he found the time to see her in-between his busy schedule, it seemed the longer the time they spent apart the more overbearing the hug was.

The brunette leaned back and looked at him with admiration, "Thank you so much Spider-Man. I don't know wh—" her thankfulness was reduced to steady sobs as tears steadily poured from her brown orbs.

Spider-Man managed a small nod as the woman buried her face deep into his chest, the place where his heart may still have been. He wasn't too sure anymore because as the fragile victim openly cried on his shoulder Spider-Man was silently fantasizing about caving her head into the nearest wall and then crushing the hood's skull with his bare hands, his pale white eyes widened into round disc shapes for the first time in a long time as he felt fear biting at the nape of his neck. Fear out of what he might do if he didn't keep the suit in check.

Spider-Man struggled to lift his arms up to hold her and could see himself twitching as he stroked her hair gently, she needed to be consoled and told it was going to be alright but he was genuinely afraid that if he stuck around any longer he may just snap her neck.

He tried to get out of her grip and succeeded in doing so as the pretty brunette reluctantly relinquishes her hold of him, she looked at him in a confused obviously hurt manner but he couldn't explain himself.

Spider-Man breathed, "I'm sorry. But you'd… be much… safer at… home" he struggled to speak properly, he hadn't uttered a word in the suit to anybody for weeks and it truly felt like he was saying his first words.

The woman nodded and once again made her gratefulness clear with another thank you directed at the conflicted hero, his voice sounded strained and raspy. It sounded nothing like the youthful sarcastic voice brimming with confidence she'd heard on television, she turned to leave and with a last glance at the hero and a disgusted look at the webbed up monster she took her leave.

The Spider-Man instantly took to the rooftops in a somewhat graceful somewhat panicky manner and started running through ideas in his head on what he was supposed to do when he heard a familiar voice greet him.

"Oh so because I start wearing a new costume so does everyone else, is that it?" Spider-Man could hear the witty banter and instantly dreaded turning around to face the new arrival.

The former Boy Wonder waited patiently for his friend to turn and actually acknowledge his remark with a response but spoke up once more when he was met with dead silence, "Pete? Are you okay? I've been trying to reach you for days, the whole team's been worried".

Richard 'Dick' Grayson, now officially known as Nightwing took steady solitary steps toward the web-slinger and could immediately sense the change of his presence. No longer was it the air of playfulness and grace the arachnid vigilante normally carried with him, instead it felt animalistic and extremely threatening.

"Stay… back" a voice warned him that did not sound like the Peter Parker he knew. Nightwing was beginning to wonder whether he had stumbled upon some imposter in a replica of Peter's new costume, he'd stumbled upon his fair share of cos-players so it wasn't completely out of the cards.

Dick tilted his head back in a confused manner, "Pete? If you need my help just say so, you're starting to worry people" he explained staying in one spot cautious of the hero's new attitude.

The way the dark-suited Spider-Man was standing made him look poised and ready to attack, Nightwing fancied his chances with some distance between the two of them because it didn't matter how trained he was when he was up against somebody who was more than forty times faster than an average human being.

Spider-Man spoke as his fists shook, "Worry?" his voice once again dark and grim.

Dick thought he was maybe getting through to him, "You've started becoming much more aggressive Pete. You've almost killed people, the other week you brought a bus down over the Shocker's head. The Shocker! He's just a normal guy, you're lucky his gauntlets managed to absorb some of the force or else he'd be splattered across the pavement!" he began to argue his tone becoming much more demanding.

Peter was his friend and ally and didn't think much of himself when it came to his superhero status but Nightwing knew that he was much faster and stronger than he let on, he wasn't exactly Superman strong but a Spider-Man without restraint is a danger to everybody. Superheroes didn't kill people no matter what they had done, it didn't work that way but Peter had very nearly crossed the line on more than one occasion.

Spider-Man twisted his neck to the side, "Deserved it" was all he said as he fully turned around to face Nightwing.

Nightwing gritted his teeth slightly at those words, the way he had said it without a care lit his fuse. That was not the Spider-Man everybody knew, that was not the Peter Parker he knew.

Judging from his stance and the angered look his eyes held Dick knew Peter wasn't willing to go without a fight but he knew it wasn't Peter, he didn't want to say anything about the suit because it could hear him. Richard knew the suit was alive and sentient, it was controlling Peter like a puppet on a string whispering into his mind letting him know it was okay to kill.

With a flourish Nightwing pulled his eskrima sticks out from the holster on his right thigh to show Peter he wasn't joking around, he didn't want to hurt him but he had to somehow separate him from the suit. A few weeks ago Peter had contacted Dr. Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four and asked him to analyse the suit because he was experiencing weird sensations with it, naturally Mr. Fantastic agreed as Spider-Man was a close long-time friend of the superhero family.

Upon analysing the black substance that encased Peter's body the stretchable genius went into a frenzy telling Spider-Man to take the suit off, Peter was confused at first but the suit manipulated him into fleeing. It didn't want to be separated from him, Dick had heard Peter talk to himself on more than one occasion in a similar fashion to the way Jaime Reyes interacts with his Blue Beetle scarab. Reed informed the Justice League as well as the Avengers and the X-Men that Spider-Man was wearing a level five symbiote, level one being a symbiote that could only express the most basic of instincts like attack or defend or even hunger for that matter.

But the level five symbiote was manipulating Peter, twisting his thoughts and personality turning him into a silent monster. The League wanted to approach him and try to separate the suit from him with force, the Avengers agreed but the X-Men and Fantastic Four weren't so keen on the idea. Nightwing spoke up and told the teams he wanted to approach Spider-Man and try to get through to him, he had been following him for quite some time. Dick had seen him save the woman from that rapist but wanted to make their encounter seem perfectly coincidental, the former Flying Grayson had to be weary of what he said around Spider-Man too because the suit could hear him.

The suit took Nightwing's action as a threatening one, it forced a grim smile onto Peter's mouth underneath the parasitic mask because it had access to all of Peter's memories and experiences. It knew this Nightwing was only human, an enhanced human but a human no less.

It didn't need to force anything too tiring out of Peter's body just for a human, instead it willed Peter to walk towards Nightwing slowly showing no signs of stopping. Dick remained planted in his spot on the rooftop and wasn't about to back down at any time soon but he knew facing the symbiote covered Spider-Man was suicide, he wasn't stupid and that was the reason he was confident his plan would work.

Spider-Man forced two fists forward at Nightwing, Dick dodged them easily enough and attempted to sweep the legs of his trapped friend. His legs crashed into Spider-Man's own but had no effect, instead he flipped backwards and landed a few feet away from the dark vigilante. He put it down to Spider-Man's uncanny ability to stick to anything but few people knew that Spider-Man's legs were possibly stronger than his arms, Nightwing resisted the urge to rub his knees. The contact felt like he had just hit two steel girders, the black suit no doubt increased his density but he had a backup plan for that. As far as Nightwing was concerned his part in the fight was merely a test.

Dick smiled grimly and rushed Spider-Man aiming a swinging kick right at his head, to his surprise it landed directly at the side of his skull but Spider-Man didn't seem to register the contact. Instead as fast as lightning he gripped Nightwing's leg almost crushing the bone and flung him across the rooftop and through a nearby chimney, Dick grimaced as he wiped a dribble of blood from his mouth and placed a hand on his leg. Spider-Man hadn't broken the bone but he'd definitely damaged it, Richard struggled to get up but succeeded nonetheless. That part of his plan was done.

With a flick of a wrist Dick launched three consecutive batarang's Peter's way, the hateful shadow simply weaved with little movement avoiding two of them whilst the other was aimed directly at him. It hit its mark and embedded itself into Spider-Man, the symbiotic goop merely pushed the projectile out of Peter's stomach and continued walking towards Dick. And with that the little test was done.

Nightwing had gauged his reflexes and agility whilst in the suit, the kick he had thrown and the batarang's were all testing his ability to dodge like he would have normally done in the red and blue outfit. But the suit, it knew that none of Nightwing's attacks would hurt it or Peter. It was forcing Peter to stand its ground to show that it was strong, to show that it didn't need to dodge. The suit was forcing Spider-Man to move slower and stalk its prey instead of being all over them in an instant, it was common knowledge that one had to be as fast as lightning to lay a hand on Spider-Man. Between the constant stream of quips and wisecracks as well as the dipping and weaving his unrivalled agility enabled him to perform each time you'd swing for him you'd only hit thin air, adding an uncanny spider-sense that warned him of immediate danger and he was almost untouchable.

But this side of Spider-Man was placing raw power over any of his other abilities and that would be his downfall because Spider-Man was not the strongest guy around. Peter was a lot stronger than he let on, a lot of people had learned this when he managed to keep a thirty story building from toppling over by using his body to take the weight but Superman he was not.

As Spider-Man approached Dick the latter's eyes grew determined, whipping out a flash grenade Nightwing threw the pellet to the floor of the rooftop and everything exploded in a vivid flash of white. Not a moment later Spider-Man's dark voice screamed out in fits of agony as Dick buried his electrified eskrima sticks into his chest, if the suit didn't want Peter to run away from an attack then this was what was going to happen.

Spider-Man struggled in agony as his narrow white eyes grew to the size of saucers, now Nightwing had to be quick.

"Victor, now!" the former Robin shouted as a blast of blue sound waves burned their way into Spider-Man's body.

Peter screamed out in agony as rain continued to pour, his hands were shaking against his head trying to make the pain stop. He knew Nightwing wasn't alone, he sensed a few familiar presences but the suit was blinded by rage. It wouldn't allow him any room to think and now the symbiote was paying the price for it.

_Good._

His senses were proved true as a small almost organic looking aircraft had suddenly appeared out of nowhere accompanied by a small team of superheroes, they had been standing there cloaked the entire time waiting for Dick to prove that the suit was all power and no brains. Peter could have avoided the attacks but the suit didn't want to, one of the female members rushed out to help Nightwing over to the ship as Cyborg continued to pour on the juice with his sonic arm cannon.

Superboy stood poised ready to beat down any resistance Spider-Man may have exhibited but he was stuck there with electrified stunt batons protruding from his chest and a world of hurt being smashed down on his entire being as sound split through his body. Peter could feel the symbiote weakening, he could feel the dark influence in his mind begin to recede. He just needed to fight it, his hands twitched and shook as they lowered towards his chest.

Peter took two large tight handfuls of the black suit and began to rip them from his body, the suit cried out in pain as Peter began to severe the connection they shared. He felt contained and suddenly noticed the Fantastic Four just off to the left of him with a fully concentrated Sue Storm trying to keep him rooted in one place, that must have been the reason he couldn't move.

Victor Stone continued to fire away at Spider-Man with a solemn but determined look on his face, they all just wanted the old Spidey back. The symbiote began to tear itself away from Peter to try and get away and as it revealed his face he heard gasps coming from all around, he hadn't seen his reflection in so long but he assumed he must have looked unrecognizable. He didn't feel like the same person but he was slowly coming back into the right frame of mind.

"Johnny! Fire… hit me with some heat!" Peter shouted at a dumbfounded Human Torch as everybody realized it was slowly working.

Johnny reluctantly nodded as he held his hand up and scrunched up his face in discomfort, the two were good friends and argued with each other constantly but this entire twisted incident was something else. A stream of flame erupted from Johnny's hand and engulfed Peter, the most unsettling sound hit everyone's ears as the symbiote squealed in pure indescribable pain.

Peter was starting to feel the heat through the suit and gritted his teeth as the flames stung his skin, although it hurt like hell it meant the symbiote was almost done for. Nightwing smiled as he could make out his friends face, he turned to Miss Martian all the while being held up by Starfire.

"M'gann, see if you can pull him out of there but…" Dick was about to add more but felt it wasn't that important.

The Human Torch eased up on the fire as the pretty green Martian nodded and floated over to Spider-Man in an intangible form, "Peter. I'm going to phase through the symbiote and try to pull you out, this may hurt a bit" she warned before moving her slender arms through the symbiote.

Peter could feel her hands move around his bare chest before they found something to grip onto in the form of his shoulders, he braced himself as the Invisible Woman tried to get him and the symbiote separate. M'gann began to pull with all her might and Peter was beginning to budge, he shot two web-lines from his wrists onto the roof's surface and added his strength into the mix. He couldn't believe he was still wearing his web-shooters after all of the time he'd spent in the suit.

The result was instantaneous as Peter was flung from the black ooze and flew straight through Miss Martian, he landed low on the ground and struggled to gain his bearings. The suit had weakened him dramatically feeding off of every ounce of energy he possessed, Cyborg powered down his arm cannon and watched as Peter shook his head thoroughly.

As Sue kept the symbiote contained Peter looked up to see the girls on the rooftop turn away with noticeable blushes on their cheeks, the guys merely rolled their eyes as it was nothing they hadn't seen before. They had to shower together after every few missions so they merely ignored the naked form of Peter Parker, Reed Richards proceeded to cover his wife's eyes as she helped him move what little of the symbiote remained into an air tight capsule.

Dick slowly moved over to Peter with a large blanket and threw it around his crouched form, "I got you buddy" he said earning a tired smile from the colourful vigilante.

Peter looked up, "Thanks. I don't want the girls ogling over me" he remarked with a cocky grin.

Nightwing smiled but could see the pain behind the grin, Peter had been wearing the suit for months. It must have been a nightmare for him to not even have the ability to think for himself, Dick looked over to Miss Martian who still had her back turned to the very naked Spider-Man.

"M'gann, you can turn around now. Let's get him some medical attention" he told her as she turned around with a nod.

Nightwing pulled Peter's arm over his shoulder careful as to not let the blanket slip off of his frame, the two of them made their way over to the Bio-Ship where Dick proceeded to help Peter get himself strapped in. The two teams said their goodbyes with them both agreeing that the symbiote needed to be destroyed, Johnny made the request to accompany the Team back to the Cave to which Nightwing accepted on the terms that he had to stop staring at Starfire.

Mr. Fantastic would take care of the symbiote while the Team along with Johnny Storm took Peter back to the Cave to recuperate, above all else he needed to rest and brush off the effects of the symbiote.

* * *

**Happy Harbor, Rhode Island—Mount Justice**

Peter Parker was lay in one of the many beds that housed injured heroes in the medical bay, he was wired up to various machines and IV's as requested by the Batman. Bruce made sure Peter was okay before contacting Dr. Richards about the symbiote, the young hero was surprised to say the least. He knew the Batman treated him as one of the family but he could sense an air of genuine concern whenever Bruce would check up on him, nobody was allowed to visit him just yet as Batman had ordered. He still needed to shake off whatever the ooze had done to him but Peter still felt as though he was the one to blame.

The incident was going to take some coming back from, that was for sure. His friendly neighbourhood name had probably been smeared across New York and as for his friends, he could tell he'd hurt them. He couldn't really remember what he'd done to them but if the small short fight with Dick was anything to go by then they were probably bad things, one of the more painful experiences he remembered was getting into a straight up brawl with Superman and the Hulk. Peter hadn't walked away from that one too well, even with the symbiote on he was no match for the Man of Steel.

Peter was just glad that there was somebody there who could stop him before he went too far, after the fight which ended with Superman victorious and Spider-Man feeling like a building had fell on top of him Peter remembered holding up a de-hulked Bruce Banner and attempting to break his neck. The symbiote must have wanted to vent after being bested by the Last Son of Krypton, it didn't manage to though as Superman once again stepped in.

_That was a painful day._

Peter was shook from his thoughts as Dick Grayson entered the room with a bandage wrapped around his leg, he immediately felt guilt swarm over him and tried to apologize. Nightwing held up his hand and halted Peter before he could even say a word to begin with.

"You don't have anything to be sorry for, it wasn't you" he told him firmly whilst he managed to walk over to Peter's bed side.

The brown haired boy bowed his head, "Doesn't matter. I still feel horrible" he muttered as Richard took a moment to sit down beside him.

"Do you remember anything?" the slightly younger of the two questioned his friend as Peter rubbed the back of his neck trying to concentrate and think back to the last couple of months.

He answered, "Bits and pieces. I remember being slugged by Superman…" Peter phrased more of a question than a statement.

Nightwing's eyebrows rose, "You remember that? That was weeks ago, it was all over the news. You helped him reign in the Hulk but then just kind of attacked him, it was pretty brutal but you actually held your own" he finished trying to add some form of positivity to the conversation.

Peter gave him a blank look, "And I'm supposed to be happy about that? I didn't do anything really bad, did I…? I mean other than start a fight with Superman" he added worried he might have actually killed somebody during his time in the suit.

Dick gave him an understanding look before talking, "There were a few close calls but… no. None that we know of, although you did hit on Wonder Woman" he remarked absent mindedly.

Peter's tired brown eyes shot open adding a spark of colour back into his dreary depressing complexion, "I hit on her?! What do you mean I hit on her?!" he questioned rising out of his prone position so he was eye level with the black and blue vigilante.

Dick smirked, "Well hit on her may have been an understatement. We thought something was up when you told her 'she was the finest specimen the planet had to offer' and then you tried to openly French her… in front of Batman… at a League meeting" he continued reducing Peter to a nervous wreck with each little sentence.

He tried to speak, "I—it was the suit… I would never—I mean she's insanely attractive but—!" Peter tried to form the words in his mouth but none seemed to come.

Nightwing eased his suffering after a few short minutes holding up his hand, "It's cool Pete. We know you had no idea what you were doing but that's a pretty great story to fall back on, right?" Dick remarked grinning from ear to ear.

Peter bit back a low growl and was about to hit back with his own remark when two more people entered the room, possibly the two richest men alive. Iron Man and Batman seemed to be in deep conversation before they caught sight of a seemingly well rested Peter Parker.

Bruce was the first one to speak, "How are you feeling?" he said simply approaching his bed side with his long cloak like cape following behind.

Peter looked up at the tall shadow, "Fine I suppose. I'm sorry about all of the trouble I caused, I take full responsibility for my actions" he stated with a strong determined tone.

Batman seemed to smile for a moment before a metallic but familiar snarky voice cut the air, "That's all well and good kid but they weren't your actions" Tony Stark spoke in his fully decked out armour… mark twenty six or something.

Peter looked confused and was about to counter when Tony cut him off, "Don't try to argue Pete. Not a lot of people come into contact with a fully grown symbiote and live to tell the tale" he explained in a not too delicate tone.

_Tony was never one to beat around the bush._

Peter remained silent and soaked in the information, well what little information he was given. Nightwing remained silent and watched the exchange, he was merely there for some moral support but still wasn't actually supposed to be there. It didn't seem to matter though as Peter seemed to be well on his way to recovering, now where could Dick get an enhanced healing factor.

Tony responded to Peter's silence with a look directed at the only other billionaire in the room, "Tell him Bruce. Don't be shy, he's a big boy. I'm sure he can handle it" he said addressing the Batman's playboy persona.

Bruce acknowledged his comment with a nod, "What Tony's trying to say is that you're the only person to ever walk away from this. Don't take this lightly Peter but whatever that thing kept telling you, whatever false promises it made it would have killed you the moment it completely drained your physical and mental energy. Dr. Richards is incinerating it as we speak, the League as well as the Avengers have all agreed that it's too much of a risk to not dispose of it. It fashioned you into a weapon Peter, cold and devoid of all life. Given the opportunity tonight you would have killed Nightwing and then moved onto something else as though it never even happened" Batman saw the small amount of horror in the teen's eyes.

Bruce waited for a response and was about to speak when Peter cut him off, "No I wouldn't have. I don't kill people, none of us do. Even under the circumstances I would have fought it or died trying" he finished casting a look at Dick.

Peter was convinced nothing would ever drive him to the point where he would openly kill his friends, it wasn't in his nature to kill anybody let alone his allies. Batman merely acknowledged his comment with a nod, he knew the boy was in slight denial but didn't address it. It was remarkable he was even alive given the ruthlessness of a garden variety symbiote, in a way they were a lot like diseases. They drained every living resource that was available to them before they moved onto something else entirely hungry for more and hoping to satisfy their never ending appetite.

Iron Man could feel the small amount of tension building in the room but spoke nonetheless, "Basically what we're both trying to say is that you don't suit black. Stick with the red and blue Pete, the looks a classic. A goofy classic but a classic no less" the genius and owner of Stark Industries placed a heavily alloyed hand on the resting vigilante's shoulders.

Peter responded the only way he knew how, with a smile. Batman told him to rest up as the two heroes left the room leaving Peter and Nightwing in each other's company.

The black haired boy turned to his friend, "I'll go get everyone. I'm sure they'll be happy to see you Pete" he spoke before moving to the door careful of his bandaged leg.

Peter cocked an eyebrow, "But I thought the Bat said I had to rest?" he said as the former protégé turned to him.

"What Bruce doesn't know, won't hurt him" Dick left the room without another word and a smile plastered across his face.


End file.
